The 25th July is the feast day of the patron saint of Spain, Saint James (Santiago) His remains are said to be buried in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and people from all over the world make pilgrimages to this wonderful, historic city.

When the 25th July falls on a Sunday it is declared a Jubilee Year (Ano Xacobeo) as it is this year, and the city is full of people visiting and enjoying the special celebrations.

This is Olivia Bouler. She is 11 years old and she lives in New York.

She has become famous for painting birds and selling the pictures to raise money to help the recovery after the Gulf oil spill.

After watching the news on the TV, about the tragedy, she was so moved that she decided to do something to help. She wrote a letter to the National Audubon Society, a charity that is dedicated to the conservation of ecosystems focussing on birds and wildlife, asking them if she could sell some of her bird paintings and donate the profits to them.

They were delighted and today her campaign has raised over $135,000. Congratulations Olivia!

Click here to see more of Olivia’s bird drawings.

This week the film Toy Story 3 opens in Spain and many of you will be going to the cinema to watch it.
Toy Story is probably one of the best Disney/Pixar films and people of all ages enjoy its characters and comedy.

Meet Paul the Octopus. This octopus is becoming famous during this World Cup because it always chooses the winning team.

Food is put in two boxes and placed in front of the octopus. Then the octopus opens one box and takes the food. Until now, Paul the Octopus has never got it wrong. When he was made to choose between Spain and Germany… he chose Spain! So we will have to wait until tomorrow to see if Paul the octopus got it right gain.

He has done it again. Yes, Rafa Nadal yesterday won the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London. He beat Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic.

Today the Spanish tennis player, Rafa Nadal will play against  Andy Murray, from Scotland in the Men’s semi finals of the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, in England.

It will be a very interesting match between these two young men. The winner will play in the Final match on Sunday, to become the 2010 Wimbledon Champion.

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Another star player at Wimbledon is this hawk (halcón) which is used to scare away the pigeons from the tennis courts. Have you ever seen pigeons at Wimbledon? No? Well, this is the reason. Wimbledon has to be perfect!!!

In Spain on the eve of St. John’s day, people celebrate the arrival of summer by making bonfires. In Galicia there is a tradition of jumping over small bonfires to deter “bad spirits”. People have barbecues and eat grilled sardines with corn bread. It’s a great night and people of all ages have fun.

Click here to see more photos of this year’s celebrations.

One of our bloggers sent in a World Cup comment asking me to post a photo of Fernando Torres. So here he is.

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE?

Send us your comments.

Click on the photo for more information about the player.

The 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa has begun, and today the Spanish team makes its debut. Many of you football fans will be glued to your televisions this afternoon to cheer on your team. Even if you are not a football fan it’s difficult not to be carried along with the wave of enthusiasm that surrounds this great sporting event.

So come on Spain! or England! or USA! or Argentina! or Germany! …etc.
You can check The Blog for all the World Cup news and results.